Gustav No Match for Social Networks

"Gustav is the largest Red Cross relief effort since Katrina," twitters the Red Cross to its one thousand followers. To make certain Hurricane Gustav does not become a Hurricane Katrina-scale disaster, social media task forces are taking up electronic arms to move disaster preparedness and rescue to unprecedented levels.

As the vehicle for the first ever evacuation and rescue effort assisted, planned and executed online by civilians, social media proves that it is a force to be reckoned with. While Gustav continues it's abuse of Gulf residents, Twitterites form an online bond to assist displaced survivors.

"Need 20 refrigerated trucks immed 4 Gustav Animal evac in LA. PayingDailyRate! Call: Brian 318-820-9607 David 516-492-6787 #gustav," dispatches Chris Brogan of Massachusetts via Twitter.com. With this single 130 character entry, over 13,482 computer users are alerted regarding this urgent need.

However, seemingly unconcerned that many Americans are lazily enjoying the Labor Day weekend, Mother Nature, almost strategically strengthens Hurricane Gustav's assault. Shortly before 4:30 p.m. PDT on August 30, 2008, Gustav is proclaimed a Category 5. This status quickly escalates a chain of online events which could make this Hurricane's destruction the first in history to be countered by a global cadre of bloggers, new media enthusiasts and online marketers who would volunteer their efforts to ensure the safety of Gulf residents.

"I think top 3 places for #gustav info is 1. @MarkMayhew & 2. http://www.jazzychad.com/twitter/gustav/ 3. http://gustav08.ning.com," twitters Wayne Sutton of Raleigh, NC to over six thousand followers.

"...I'm scrambling to get this group up and running. You'll see below I'm experimenting with some Twitter aggregators, and hope to settle on the most efficient system in the next few hours. ... so twitter users can receive gustav news, alerts, blog posts, etc via twitter as well. I've also added a Flickr stream of content tagged gustav to the left," announced Andy Carvin creator of http://gustav08.ning.com.

In less than an hour, gustav08.ning.com grew from 5 members to 70. Concerned members from Austria, Florida, United Kingdom, Naples, etc. are ready and prepared to volunteer to help those in need.

From 1:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 30, 2008, over 1500 tweets were aggregated through http://www.jazzychad.com/twitter/gustav/. Most tweets include prayers and concerns for New Orleans residents who have not yet evacuated, and updates regarding Hurricane Gustav's movement and status.

New media users who watch Red Cross' Twitter page for instructions understand that the rescue organization has all hands full setting up nearly 500 shelters for Gustav. So, online social media volunteers continue to quickly collaborate and brainstorm the most strategic way to proceed with online efforts. With this effort, social media has officially surpassed the status of online collaboration tool and has accelerated to the level of hero.

Sources

http://www.jazzychad.com/twitter/gustav/

http://gustav08.ning.com/

http://twitter.com/chrisbrogan

http://twitter.com/waynesutton